Blurb:

London 1811
Can love withstand the ultimate betrayal?
William was running. Running from his father, running from his arranged marriage, and running from himself. He’d never wanted to manage his father’s vast empire. He would have been quite happy to find some small corner of England and read and paint. He knew it would be too much to ask for the company of a man to go with that. Too dangerous. His only hope for escape is to hide who and what he is and pretend to be a servant.
Alex was barely surviving after the fight with Napoleon’s armies. Riddled with guilt, he buried the knowledge of his wife’s death, and his crippled body, at the bottom of whatever brandy bottle he could find.
Two broken souls. One so damaged he thinks he doesn’t deserve love, and one so convinced he would never find it he has stopped looking.
Danger, lies, and espionage. The fate of hundreds of English soldier’s lives depending on them to trust each other, to work together.
Alex is forced to make a choice, unable to swallow his pride and rejects Will and their chance of happiness. Will is heartbroken, and Alex is destroyed. Will Alex realize his mistake in time? Can he learn to trust Will, but more importantly himself, and would Will ever forgive him if he did? And finally, would love ever survive a betrayal – even if it is an innocent one?

My View:

Book 2 in the Innocent series and this author has managed to do what few before have achieved when it comes to my reading – she has made historical fiction something I enjoy! This isn’t as dark as the first book in the series – it’s more a story of healing for both MC’s albeit for entirely different reasons and it has come out as my favourite so far.

We met Will in book 1. He has the weight of the world on his shoulders being the eldest son and is next in line to a small fortune and numerous titles. Befitting a man of his rank his father has arranged his marriage and on the morning when he is supposed to say “I do” panic sets in and he runs. Being wealthy and well known leaves him few options but he finds himself at the home of Lord Alexander Marston and hiding in plain sight as his companion.

Alex came back from the war broken. He is bed bound, covered in infected wounds, lives at the bottom of the nearest bottle and no longer cares whether he lives or dies. He has been neglected and let down by those who he should be able to trust – those he is related to and those he employs and when Will finds him he is lying in his own mess and virtually at deaths door. If Will had any sense he would turn around and run, he is completely out of his depth, but something draws him to the other man and he dives in to try and save him, experience and consequences be damned.

Can these men heal each other and have any sort of life together? It seems there is always someone just lurking round the corner trying to take advantage and mess things up for them. Great writing, great story and I hope we see Gus get a happy ending at some point.

Links

I would like to thank the publisher for providing me with the eARC of this title in exchange for my honest opinion.

Farewell Giveaway
I have a number of paperbacks, most of which are signed, to giveaway. Over the between now (11 Mar 2017) and 31 Mar 2017, every comment on the blog (this post and all other new posts), will be entered to win 1 of these paperbacks. There are also some misc swag items, so there will be a few packs of these to give away as well.

Thank you so much for your support over the last 4 years. Prism will be closing its doors on 1 April 2017. All content will remain available, but no new content will appear after 31 Mar 2017. As such all request forms have been turned off. Again Thank you,